As someone who often writes about the things that are fucked up in our society, what are some of the things you love? Like, whatās made you laugh or tear up with joy recently?
I know I write about gloomy things a lot of the time, but Iām a pretty happy person. I love spending time with my family. [My husband] Aham and I just went on a crazy road trip. We drove from Houston to Seattle. It was fascinating and fun and weird to drive through the American Heartland during this moment in history. I also love televisionā¦ We have two kids, 14 and 16, so weāve taken it upon ourselves to educate them about things that are good. Weāve been trying to introduce the older one to The Sopranos, thatās our latest project. I also watch a lot of Forensic Files and home remodeling shows. Iām very lowbrow.
When you have a new column to write, what is your process like from blank page to emailing the draft?
Oh, god, itās terrible. Iām terrible. Iām the worst. Iām very undisciplined. I canāt do anything without a deadline. So, I pitch my editor and we figure out what the column is going to be. Then I kind of just sit there and stare at a blank page for, you know, like, 12-24 hours. And when I do that, I rationalize it by telling myself that something is happening during that time. I donāt know if thatās true or notābut, basically, once the panic starts in, which is usually around 4 in the morning, I start grinding it out. Word-by-word, it comes out. I usually turn in pretty finished drafts. I donāt usually end up being edited very heavily, perhaps to my detriment. So, I have no one to blame but myself for anything that doesnāt come out very well!
But, yeah, itās kind of this process of thinking and thinking and thinking and trying to figure out a way in. I donāt know if this is weird or not, but I write chronologically. I write the first paragraph to the last paragraph without much moving around. So, itās hard to get started without coming up with a really great lead. And sometimes that takes all day. Thatās kind of how it works. Once the dread and panic set in, then I just do it. And if I get to a point where someone is emailing me and theyāre at least mildly annoyed because Iām taking too long, then itās on!
What does your writing space look like?
I donāt have a writing space. I used to have an office in our house but once our kids became teenagers, they wanted their own rooms, they didnāt want to share a room. And I found myself always writing in the living room, anyway. I thought, this is no big deal! Iāll give up my office and let it be a teenagerās room. So, now, I full-time in the living room. Turns out, though, itās not a great place to write all the time. So a lot of work happens at coffee shops. I do weird stuff like go to my momās house and sit in her basement just to be some place different and in a place thatās not the living room or a coffee shop. You can only drink so much coffee before it feels like a medical emergency. Now, Iām in the thick of working on my next book, so thankfully Iāve foundāI havenāt moved in yetābut Iāve found an office space. Iām going to start to be a real writer soon!
As more and more has changed in your life, how have you changed?
I think as you get older, you definitely start to reevaluate how you spend your time. I feel like there are things that used to be important to me that now I just donāt think about anymore. Like going out and drinking and having a hangover. I think the older you get and the more you learn and the more open-minded you are and all thatāat least for me, there are all kinds of contradictions in just being an American that are not resolvable. Like the fact that we live on stolen land and we donāt do anything about it.
I think a big part of my reaction to Donald Trump and our political system is feeling a protectiveness over my country that I didnāt realize I had. Iām discovering that America meant something to me and Iām offended that someone would exploit it the way itās being exploited. But then I come up against this idea that America itself, its existence, is violent and exploitive. So what am I feeling protective of? Iām feeling protective over something that is oppressive.
The more you dig into those ideas, the more complicated they become to resolve. This is stuff I think about all the time and I donāt have an easy solution. But Iām also grateful for that confusion. Iād rather be a person that is failing in a certain way with my eyes open then feeling fine and totally oblivious.
Whatās the best or weirdest thing thatās happened to you this year?
I went to the Oscars. That was the weirdest for sure. The Oscars are so crazy. You think, like, oh itās the Oscars, they must have a separate pen where they keep the regular people. But no! Youāre just going up an escalator behind Helen Mirren. Sheās just there being perfect. Itās a tripāreally strange. I didnāt go into it planning to be impressed. Celebrity is so weird. Itās not like famous people are better thanāwell, Helen Mirren is better than us. There is just something so interesting about seeing how culture gets made.
"The Witches Are Coming"āwhich we hope has something to do with her brilliant and blistering October 2017 NYT column āYes, This Is a Witch Hunt. Iām a Witch and Iām Hunting Youāāhappens at Benroya Hall on April 15.